Time trickled by. The sun hung high overhead, scorching heat blanketing the land. Outside the valley, more Soul Masters and Soul Engineers arrived from all directions, making the previously barely tranquil area increasingly lively. Soul Masters could be seen darting through the woods at any moment.
There were lone wanderers, as well as members of various factions.
Among Mingdu's local powers, the Aodu Merchant Association and the Ordinary Alliance were particularly formidable. Both factions had dispatched nearly two hundred people, with the weakest among them at the Soul King level.
Their discipline was excellent. After claiming favorable positions, they made no further moves.
The other factions, on the other hand, perhaps because they already held grudges against one another, started fighting before anyone had even entered the valley. Still, both sides showed restraint and no one was killed.
There were also bold and impatient people who ran straight to the valley entrance, intending to force their way through. What greeted them, however, was a powerful backlash. Those with weaker cultivation were blasted away, immediately coughing up blood and fainting. Even the stronger ones suffered reversed blood flow, their faces flushing bright red on the spot, like crayfish that had been steamed alive.
That sight made many who had intended to force their way in abandon the idea.
They did not want to die just from giving it a try.
With so many people and such sweltering weather, more and more people grew restless. Some even began considering retreating. Just as countless people were thinking this, the light pillar that had been shooting into the heavens suddenly blossomed with light once more, as though something had drawn it in.
"What's going on? Could the valley's restriction be opening?" Nearly a thousand people at the scene looked on in surprise, all turning